garden space or utility extension

[Evecob]

hi all,

we recently lost out on a house due to sellers pulling out last minute so we had to too. that aside, we are not sure if we want to try selling again in the near future (nothing we want is on the market right now). The house we almost got had 4 bedrooms and a utility (which I was so excited about!) and we want those things in our current house (3 bedroom no utility) or go for a loft conversion to make 4 bedrooms and a utility rear extension.

we are currently waiting on quotes form 3 companies/builders, but my issue is with our garden size.

it is 9.5ish metres long and 6.3meters wide. Definitely on the smaller side. We have a park right outside our house though which we can see from our living room and a field. We have 2 dc, 2 and 5 months currently.
we also have a patch of grass not fenced we could add to our garden (checked deeds and its ours) which would make it more like 9.5 by 7.5-8 but it has a lamp post on it, we want to get removed if we can before fencing that section.

If we got the utility extension, it would be 3.5 m wide and 1.6m long. I have attached a simple pic.

Thoughts on the reduction of the garden size? would it be better to sell or go for it

this is roughly what our garden layout is

If it’s a choice between garden space and a utility room I’d much prefer garden space, especially with young children.

I like your suggestion - it doesn't look like it would take up much of your usable garden space. And I'd imagine that the cost of doing that plus the loft conversion makes sense, compared to the new house, with fees etc?

And sorry about the house falling through, that sucks.

I'd prefer a utility over garden space. I have a utility/downstairs loo in the house we moved into last year and I wouldn't be without it.

@HouseyHouse21

And sorry about the house falling through, that sucks.

thank you, yeah it hit hard. Especially when you get so far and you mentally check out of your old house!

I'm glad you like our idea. It helps me feel a bit better about potentially moving forward with it.

We like our location, love it in fact, and even the house is lovely just doesn't quite meet our needs anymore.I cant stand the clutter and there's too many pro's for me to have a utility now. We have a nice kitchen diner and living space, just need that extra room for the kids or to escape to WFH.

Well this could be a blessing in disguise, if you're able to make those tweaks and stay put. Alao, a professional organiser may be able to help you with reducing the level of clutter and finding better storage solutions within your existing layout. We all become blind to the 'stuff' in our homes as we're so used to looking at it.

It's certainly worth considering, especially as you're happy there. Could you run it past your estate agent, they might be able to give an opinion on whether it could cause problems if you wanted to sell in the future .

No. That extension is in the wrong place I think. it looks as though you have a window or door which you'd have to block up (loss of light?) or you'd be looking from the kitchen into the utility room? I think buyers (generally) want the view / access from the kitchen to be of the garden. I can you have that via patio doors, but it would put me off your house with the layout you're proposing.

Could you extend at the side? Or if you extend as you propose, move the kitchen into the new extension and carve a bit of the existing kitchen into a small utility?

@Africa2go

No. That extension is in the wrong place I think. it looks as though you have a window or door which you'd have to block up (loss of light?) or you'd be looking from the kitchen into the utility room? I think buyers (generally) want the view / access from the kitchen to be of the garden. I can you have that via patio doors, but it would put me off your house with the layout you're proposing.

Could you extend at the side? Or if you extend as you propose, move the kitchen into the new extension and carve a bit of the existing kitchen into a small utility?

i see what you're saying, but there would be no loss of light hopefully, we would get a window directly opposite where our current window is to keep the light, and the patio doors are untouched in dining area so light shouldnt be an issue.

I like your idea but it sounds like a much more expensive option, and we would like a loft conversion too. If we could afford it we probably would!

That's what I mean, the room you spend a significant amount of time in (kitchen) just looks into the utility room? I think (only my personal view) that would put slot of people off if you come to sell.